The Supreme Court will today hear the plea to seeking to include Urdu as a medium in the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET), single common examination for admission in medical colleges, from next session. On March 10, the Central government submitted before the apex court that they are open to the idea of conducting NEET in Urdu from the next session. However, they said it would be impossible to include the provision for NEET 2017.

The petition was filed by the Students Islamic Organisation (SIO). The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) had in January released an official notification, according to which, the NEET will be held in 10 languages — Hindi, English, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Oriya and Kannada.

This year, the government has introduced two eligibility criterias — age and attempt limits — that has upset thousands of students. While the policy on attempts has been modified with making the NEET 2017 to be counted as the first attempt, the age criteria (a candidate should not be over 25 years) remains same.

However, petitions have been filed to roll back age limit. As per reports, the Medical Council of India had decided to remove the age and attempt limit due to protests from students. The Supreme Court will give the final verdict on March 31. NEET 2017 will be conducted on May 7.